Furniture corner construction.



WTTED STATES PATENT FFIQE.

GUSTAV C. BALBACH, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO MURPHY CHAIR COM-PANY, 0F DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

FURNITURE CORNER CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed January 19, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GUSTAV C. BALBAGH, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in FurnitureCorner Construction, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings. The inventionrelates to furniture corner construction, and has more particularreference to the construction of chair frames with frame seat or woodseat construction.

It is the object of the invention to obtain a stronger and more rigidlybraced corner and one'which dispenses with the securing means usuallyemployed for this purpose.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the construction;Fig. 2 1s a cross section thereof; and Fig. 8 is a bottom plan view.

A is the corner leg and B the side rail of a chair frame of usualconstruction.

C is a diagonal corner brace extending between the side rails to bracethe same, and D is a seat frame mounted upon the rails. The usual methodof securing the brace to the chair frame is by screws passing throughthe ends thereof into the rails and by glue between the end of the braceand the contacting surface of the rail. This method is unsatisfactory,as it is difficult to form a strong glue joint with the end of thefibers of the wood, and it is also difiicult to form perfectlycontacting angular surfaces. As a consequence the strength of theconstruction is dependent largely upon the screw and not upon theadhesion of the glue. With my improved construction I have avoided thisdifficulty, first, by forming the glue joint between the side instead ofthe end surface of the brace, and further by a construction which willprovide perfect contacting surfaces not dependent upon exact angles ormiters. These results are obtained by forming a tongue and groove jointbetween the brace and the rails, the tongue being preferably formed uponthe brace member and the groove in the rail. Thus the sides of thetongue will be in perfect contact with the sides of the groove and theglue joint therebetween will therefore be Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented May 23, 1916.

Serial No. 812,901.

much stronger than possible with the end of the wood. Also a perfect fitbetween the adjoining faces is not dependent upon perfoot miters or theperfect rectangularity of the frame.

In detail, E is the tongue member formed upon each end of the brace C,and F is the groove member formed on the inner side of the rail B. Theseparts are so fashioned that when the brace is in position its upper facewill be parallel to the upper face of the rails but slightly below theplane thereof. This permits of securing the seat D, which construction,by means of a single screw G in each of the braces, and further, as thebrace is slightly below the plane of the top surface of the rails, thiswill draw the Seat firmly down upon the rails and will also react uponthe corner brace to strengthen its attachment to the rails by theclamping tension. As there are a plurality of the braces C andpreferably one at each corner, all of which are attached by screws G tothe seat frame D, the latter will help to brace the chair frame and holdit rectangular. Each brace also acts to prevent the adjacent rails fromspreading apart at the joint, while the tongue and groove engagementprevents movement of the brace in a Vertical direction.

What I claim as my invention is- In a furniture frame, the combinationwith a corner leg, the side rails connected thereto each havingregistering horizontal grooves in their inner portions adjacent theirupper edges, a corner brace block having tongues fashioned to fit saidgrooves, and having their upper faces adjacent the plane of the upperfaces of the rails, the said tongues being fixedly secured in thegrooves, a top frame mounted upon the rails and projectlng inwardlybeyond the sides thereof, and fastening means extending verticallythrough the corner braces and entering the said seat frame for thepurposes specified.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GUSTAV C. BALBAOH.

Witnesses:

H. J. KLINGLER, IDA F. TODD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Gommissioncr of Patents.

Washington, D. 6.

